Boca To Stress Environmental Worth Of Park

BOCA RATON — City park officials are eager to show that development of a 54-acre park on the western shore of Lake Wyman will enhance, not destroy, the area`s environmental value.

In fact, said Parks Director Tom Alexander, developing the mangrove swamp may be the only way to save it. Unless exotic plants such as Australian pine are cleared, mangroves and other valuable plants could be crowded out, he said.

A master plan, estimated to cost $5 million, for the park will be discussed in a public hearing at 7:30 p.m. Aug. 8 at the Gumbo Limbo Nature Center. Alexander said he hopes to relieve beforehand any anxiety about the plan`s environmental impact.

``We want to assure the public that, yes, these sensitive areas are going to be taken care of,`` Alexander said.

The 54-acre tract is laced with a series of canals, most of them slowly filling with debris, Alexander said. A survey performed in February showed that mangroves still dominate the shoreline, with inland areas covered by a mix of exotic and native plants.

Under the master plan, which will undergo City Council scrutiny in September, the canals would be cleared, the exotic plants destroyed and the mangroves allowed to reclaim most of the tract. The canals would become canoe trails.

Most of the park`s facilities would be built in areas now dominated by exotics, Alexander said. Planned facilities include boat ramps and slips, a picnic area, a Coast Guard station and a restaurant. Boardwalks and footpaths would thread their way through the park and an observation tower would be built on an island.

The park`s main object, however, is to relieve the overtaxed boat ramp at Silver Palm Park, Alexander said.

``We are going to be able to provide the residents of Boca Raton with a recreational need they have stated for years and years,`` he said.

In drafting the plan, the city`s consultant has kept in close touch with the federal, state and county officials who issue development permits, Alexander said. So far no major objections have been raised, he said, except those concerning the danger to lake-bottom grasses of a proposed breakwater.